A coalition of business and civic groups wants to ban Arnold Schwarzenegger films from being shown in Turkey after the governor officially declared April 24 a day of remembrance for the genocide of Armenians 90 years ago.
The Turks are protesting the use of the term “genocide” to describe the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians who perished from 1915 to 1923.
Turkey acknowledges that large numbers of Armenians died, but attributes the deaths to civil unrest during the collapse of the Ottoman regime.
Armenian-Americans contend that the Turks, in a fervor of nationalism, systematically exterminated or deported hundreds of thousands of Armenians. When the killings began, 2.5 million Armenians were living within the borders of the Ottoman Empire.
The Ankara Chamber of Commerce is organizing some 300 associations, unions and businesses to sign a petition to prohibit the governor’s films from being shown in the country.
A spokesperson for the American Turkish Association of Southern California said was the full story about the mass exterminations not being told. He went on to say that Turks feel betrayed by the Austrian-born Schwarzenegger.
Last week the governor signed legislation formally designating April 24 a “Day of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide.” On that date in 1915, Turkish forces rounded up some 200 Armenian leaders in eastern Turkey and sent them to prison to be executed.
California is home to about one million Armenian-Americans.
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